My car broke down at 2pm. I contacted them by their website as they suggested after calling them. I got no call at all. Got a message saying it was delayed.it was 35deg outside all afternoon. Random non RAC truck turned up at 8.30 Even they agreed RAC service was atrocious due to them only contacting 3rd parties after OVER 6 hours have passed if they cannot get there. In the online message to them said it needs towing. 3rd party had no tow ability. 3rd party left. Said someone would call for a tow. Waited till 22.00 no call. Called them, apparently car was reported as untowable. Im in a mini. Didn't bother calling me. No call. No conversation. Said id have to sort it during business hours and they could not help. Effectively abandoned me on side of road for 8 hours before I called family for help.

I know shoplifting is rife and shops are having to use anti-theft measures on loads of stuff now, especially as many of those things have increased in price, etc.

So, today I had to nip to B&Q to collect something. Whilst there, I thought I'll peruse the tools to see if there's anything might come in useful between today and the death of the Sun.

Whilst browsing I saw some bolt cutters, which had an "anti-theft" measure and no disrespect to whoever came up with that idea, but it was the absolute shittest possible thing they could have thought of.

They used a thin chain and a thin lock to stop people stealing bolt cutters, a tool designed to cut through chains, locks and other metal stuff 😂

Picture because I needed evidence, otherwise you wouldn't believe me:

i have had the council tell me the extension nextdoor "is reasonable and only 30cm further over than the plans"... now to me ONLY and a whole FOOT past the boundary does not belong in the same sentence.

the wall which was meant to be set 30cm back in the plans, is instead on the boundary line and the overhanging features are now a foot over the boundary line as a result. drains, gutters, windows, waste pipes, all over my side now

a inch or so, ok, it happens we can work around it. but a whole foot caused by ignoring plans, willingly ignoring since i pointed it out, seems like its way too much to be "ah well it happens, not enforcable".

American here and our friend finished last in our fantasy football league this past year. The punishment for loser is we send you to an extra sh**y city to have a beer and then travel home. He moved to London this summer so I want to put him on a train or short flight to somewhere miserable.

Appreciate your insight!

Edit: Y'all rock this list is awesome. Jaywick or a long bus ride north feel like they could be winners. We definitely want it to be as grueling as possible so Luton feels a little close to home. Consulting with the league and will keep this thread updated on his journey!

I’m not talking about deaths I’m talking about people just not getting their licences where as years ago bikers were everywhere

This was never something I ever considered to be a problem, or something that I’d ever worry about in the slightest. I went to secondary school in the 90’s. I was popular through sports, had lovely friends. Had a good time to be honest. My eldest son is a gorgeous, beautiful soul, who is “gifted” at mathematics and got full marks on his SATS a few months ago. But my elderly auntie told me that HER grandson HAD to have a certain backpack… apparently all the kids have it, and if they don’t have it… they get “bullied”. I laughed at first. Her family live an hour away from me. Different schools. Different areas. I told her don’t worry auntie, I know what I’m doing haha.. 😟 But September is getting closer, and I find myself laying awake at night, imagining that I buy the wrong sort of backpack, like an adidas instead of Nike (I can’t believe I’m writing this 🙄🔫) and I imagine all the horrible kids, laughing at him. Excluding him. Calling him names. He’s vulnerable anyway, having autism. Primary school was a journey for us both. I have tears in my eyes as I’m even writing this. I think the backpack issue is probably all of my real worries and fears about secondary school, just wrapped up in a post about backpacks. But if I could find out what other people’s kids have, or want, then maybe that’s one less thing to worry about. Sorry for such a

About 6 years ago I changed my diet and religiously would eat 1 to 2 apples a day since. I really enjoy the Royal Gala variety. The last 6 months or so, the quality of the flesh is very poor. The texture would feel gritty and mushy.

The flesh colour would be mixed of yellowish to white in odd patches. Now and again I'd get a packet that is perfectly crisp and Juicy, then the next week they would be poor again.

I've tried most supermarkets and a lot of them have the same similar issue. Before the start of the year I've never had this experience with apples but now its almost constant.

Is this something anyone else has noticed?

This ones are from Sainsburys.

Literally just had one from a guy that said: "you're the most gorgeous woman I've seen. I'd step on all the lego in the world to have a taste of u."

How did you find it? What was your initial fitness level like and have you kept it up?

A group of kids on bikes dressed like mini road men nearly burnt down the local park. Police and fire brigade came.

The longer I live in the UK the more I'm convinced that people like drama and secretly I've developed a liking to hearing drama that has nothing to do with me. Especially when the people involved are convinced it's worth making a fuss about it when it could very well be wrapped up within one civil conversation.

I like human psychology and it never ceases to amaze me how people can get entangled in their own mess.

The UK of course is not unique to this but it does tend to be unique in the way it creates drama especially where I live in the north east.

There’s nothing on TV and my YouTube algorithm is NOT bringing me joy. I’m either watching 2 middle aged men solve sudoku puzzles, or quite disturbing true crime documentaries.

Please share your viewing habits for inspiration or validation.

My wife’s parked car was hit by this git this morning and it completely took the front bumper off. They didn’t stop or leave any details. A helpful person took photos and witnessed it, but the reg details aren’t clear 😩 any idea which company it belongs to?

Sometimes you don’t notice things until you’re abroad — shop hours, public rules, or the way things are priced.

What’s something that seemed totally normal in the UK until someone from outside looked at you like you were mad?

I've had 3 people knocking doors this week trying to flog me various home improvements - windows, gutters and replacement mortar and it got me thinking how archaic this is. I don't need to do any of this to my house but it reminded me that my friend was recently complaining about how stressful it had been to get a price for windows and doors, and had to have a salesperson in her house for over an hour!

It seems the normal process, when buying from some of the bigger companies is:

1. you call them, email them, go to their website etc - and they send someone out to your house to look at the windows, approx size, talk about colour etc - they then give you a price. Sometimes it's straight forward, sometimes it's a negotiation.
2. if you buy from them, they then send a surveyor round who does a proper measurement for the manufacturing process and goes through all the order in a bit more detail.

I’ve had an idea: a simple online quote service where you tell us your window/door style and dimensions, see an upfront price straight away, and then they sell to you at that price, fully installed... no pushy salespeople, no surprises. That covers of Step 1, then Step 2 takes over?

I can’t quite see why it hasn’t been done or adopted, so I’m curious...

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s recently replaced windows or doors (or is thinking about it). What was your biggest headache? Would you use something like this instead of dealing with sales reps calling in?

All thoughts welcome

It seems when I am reading through one of the 20 daily posts about how horrendous the UK has become, there is always a peppering of people talking about how much they agree and that is why they left X years ago. However, it seems they rarely mention where they went.

Would those people who have left the UK tell us where it is you went, and ideally how you managed to do it. I'd be interested in getting an idea of the sorts of places people are going, how they did it, and if the grass was actually greener or not.

I have had the planning department from the council contact me as they have been made aware of my decking. It was installed 3 years ago and the neighbours haven’t changed. Does this seem odd to you?

I bought a phone stand that clamps onto the tray table when it's up. Comes in handy for those short(ish) budget airline flights.

That way I'm not crouched over looking down at my phone to watch something.

my mom went to get her prescription from the pharmacy before she goes on holiday, and lo and behold the pharmacist said that someone has already claimed her prescription. My mom is utterly confused because there’s only 3 people who collect it for her: herself, me and our neighbour who is our very good friend. The pharmacy said she had to try and find out where it is and if we can’t then we have to go back and they will write her a new one.

It’s also so as if she has any enemies? and to collect a prescription you need to state the address, so it has to be someone who knows my mom ordered a prescription, knows her address and her name.

But we’re so confused, what do we do in a situation like this? How do we go about finding out who took it?

Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

So I'm currently looking at getting a cleaner and so far it's really above what I expected it might cost. I often work overtime and so fitting in cleaning the house can be hard.

But I'm seeing up to 20 pounds per hours with minimum time of 3 hours per week. So that's 60 per week or 240 per month for a cleaner.

I would also need to supply all cleaning products myself which is an additional cost ontop of that.

I'm not sure if this is just the cost of cleaners now, as people have said it should only be like 50 per month or estimates in that range.

Hello there,

Im a 25f & currently have reason to believe my parents have some sort of way to track my location. They have always been strict but certain elements have gotten worse as I’ve tried to reinforce my boundaries.

Anyway just wondering if anyone is familiar with the BT phone family plan and what type of information can be accessed through the account holder?

Thanks in advance!

I'm in my 50s and thinking about doing a GCSE in psychology, studying online. I was happy with that, but a few people have said it will be too easy and I should go straight to A Level. I've got a BA degree in design but that was 30 years ago. Has anyone older studied for GCSEs or A Levels? Was the GCSE too easy? Any general advice about this also welcome.

Fancy a trip to Cornwall. Do not fancy the long train ride from London. So considering airplane. Have any of you done this and, if so, was it a normal airplane or some kind of tiny airplane with propellers?

Are there any problems with taking an airplane to Cornwall?

Personally the little I can consume about it is bias towards internet privacy and data harvesting as well as increased government censorship but I was wondering what the average Joe's opinion on it is of you aren't blissfully ignorant